Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Bacteriology logoLink to Journal of Bacteriology
. 1985 Jun;162(3):1186–1190. doi: 10.1128/jb.162.3.1186-1190.1985

Control of Klebsiella pneumoniae nif mRNA synthesis.

J J Collins, W J Brill
PMCID: PMC215902  PMID: 2581933

Abstract

Four probes, each specific for a single nif transcript, were used for an analysis of the regulation of nif mRNA synthesis. Transcription of the nifLA operon was repressed by NH4+ but not by amino acids, O2, or temperatures above 37 degrees C. The nifA gene product was required for the activation of transcription of the other nif operons but not nifLA. Synthesis of the other nif transcripts was rapidly turned off by the addition of O2, NH4+, serine, or glutamine. These regulatory effects required the nifL product. However, the nifL product was not required for the cessation of synthesis of these transcripts at elevated temperatures.

Full text

PDF
1186

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beynon J., Cannon M., Buchanan-Wollaston V., Cannon F. The nif promoters of Klebsiella pneumoniae have a characteristic primary structure. Cell. 1983 Sep;34(2):665–671. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90399-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brill W. J. Biochemical genetics of nitrogen fixation. Microbiol Rev. 1980 Sep;44(3):449–467. doi: 10.1128/mr.44.3.449-467.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brill W. J., Steiner A. L., Shah V. K. Effect of molybdenum starvation and tungsten on the synthesis of nitrogenase components in Klebsiella pneumonia. J Bacteriol. 1974 Jun;118(3):986–989. doi: 10.1128/jb.118.3.986-989.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brooks S. J., Collins J. J., Brill W. J. Repression of nitrogen fixation in Klebsiella pneumoniae at high temperature. J Bacteriol. 1984 Feb;157(2):460–464. doi: 10.1128/jb.157.2.460-464.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Buchanan-Wollaston V., Cannon M. C., Beynon J. L., Cannon F. C. Role of the nifA gene product in the regulation of nif expression in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Nature. 1981 Dec 24;294(5843):776–778. doi: 10.1038/294776a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Buchanan-Wollaston V., Cannon M. C., Cannon F. C. The use of cloned nif (nitrogen fixation) DNA to investigate transcriptional regulation of nif expression in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Mol Gen Genet. 1981;184(1):102–106. doi: 10.1007/BF00271203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cooper T. G., Whitney P., Magasanik B. Reaction of lac-specific ribonucleic acid from Escherichia coli with lac deoxyribonucleic acid. J Biol Chem. 1974 Oct 25;249(20):6548–6555. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Court D., Brady C., Rosenberg M., Wulff D. L., Behr M., Mahoney M., Izumi S. U. Control of transcription termination: a rho-dependent termination site in bacteriophage lambda. J Mol Biol. 1980 Apr;138(2):231–254. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(80)90285-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dixon R., Eady R. R., Espin G., Hill S., Iaccarino M., Kahn D., Merrick M. Analysis of regulation of Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogen fixation (nif) gene cluster with gene fusions. Nature. 1980 Jul 10;286(5769):128–132. doi: 10.1038/286128a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Espin G., Alvarez-Morales A., Cannon F., Dixon R., Merrick M. Cloning of the glnA, ntrB and ntrC genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae and studies of their role in regulation of the nitrogen fixation (nif) gene cluster. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;186(4):518–524. doi: 10.1007/BF00337959. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hennecke H., Shanmugam K. T. Temperature control of nitrogen fixation in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Arch Microbiol. 1979;123(3):259–265. doi: 10.1007/BF00406659. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hill S., Kennedy C., Kavanagh E., Goldberg R. B., Hanau R. Nitrogen fixation gene (nifL) involved in oxygen regulation of nitrogenase synthesis in K. pneumoniae. Nature. 1981 Apr 2;290(5805):424–426. doi: 10.1038/290424a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Houmard J., Bogusz D. Kinetic study of the expression of Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogen fixation (nif) genes under conditions of inhibited transcription. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1981 Jun 16;100(3):1237–1244. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(81)91956-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Imperial J., Ugalde R. A., Shah V. K., Brill W. J. Role of the nifQ gene product in the incorporation of molybdenum into nitrogenase in Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1984 Apr;158(1):187–194. doi: 10.1128/jb.158.1.187-194.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kahn D., Hawkins M., Eady R. R. Metabolic control of Klebsiella pneumoniae mRNA degradation by the availability of fixed nitrogen. J Gen Microbiol. 1982 Dec;128(12):3011–3018. doi: 10.1099/00221287-128-12-3011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kaluza K., Hennecke H. Regulation of nitrogenase messenger RNA synthesis and stability in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Arch Microbiol. 1981 Sep;130(1):38–43. doi: 10.1007/BF00527069. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. MacNeil D., Brill W. J. Mutations in nif genes that cause Klebsiella pneumoniae to be derepressed for nitrogenase synthesis in the presence of ammonium. J Bacteriol. 1980 Nov;144(2):744–751. doi: 10.1128/jb.144.2.744-751.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. MacNeil D., Howe M. M., Brill W. J. Isolation and characterization of lambda specialized transducing bacteriophages carrying Klebsiella pneumoniae nif genes. J Bacteriol. 1980 Mar;141(3):1264–1271. doi: 10.1128/jb.141.3.1264-1271.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. MacNeil D., Zhu J., Brill W. J. Regulation of nitrogen fixation in Klebsiella pneumoniae: isolation and characterization of strains with nif-lac fusions. J Bacteriol. 1981 Jan;145(1):348–357. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.1.348-357.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. MacNeil T., MacNeil D., Roberts G. P., Supiano M. A., Brill W. J. Fine-structure mapping and complementation analysis of nif (nitrogen fixation) genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1978 Oct;136(1):253–266. doi: 10.1128/jb.136.1.253-266.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Magasanik B. Genetic control of nitrogen assimilation in bacteria. Annu Rev Genet. 1982;16:135–168. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.16.120182.001031. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Merrick M. J. Nitrogen control of the nif regulon in Klebsiella pneumoniae: involvement of the ntrA gene and analogies between ntrC and nifA. EMBO J. 1983;2(1):39–44. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1983.tb01377.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Ow D. W., Ausubel F. M. Regulation of nitrogen metabolism genes by nifA gene product in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Nature. 1983 Jan 27;301(5898):307–313. doi: 10.1038/301307a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Riedel G. E., Brown S. E., Ausubel F. M. Nitrogen fixation by Klebsiella pneumoniae is inhibited by certain multicopy hybrid nif plasmids. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):45–56. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.45-56.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Roberts G. P., Brill W. J. Gene-product relationships of the nif regulon of Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1980 Oct;144(1):210–216. doi: 10.1128/jb.144.1.210-216.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Roberts G. P., Brill W. J. Genetics and regulation of nitrogen fixation. Annu Rev Microbiol. 1981;35:207–235. doi: 10.1146/annurev.mi.35.100181.001231. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Roberts G. P., MacNeil T., MacNeil D., Brill W. J. Regulation and characterization of protein products coded by the nif (nitrogen fixation) genes of Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1978 Oct;136(1):267–279. doi: 10.1128/jb.136.1.267-279.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Shanmugam K. T., Morandi C. Amino acids as repressors of nitrogenase biosynthesis in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1976 Jul 21;437(2):322–332. doi: 10.1016/0304-4165(76)90002-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. St John R. T., Shah V. K., Brill W. J. Regulation of nitrogenase synthesis by oxygen in Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1974 Jul;119(1):266–269. doi: 10.1128/jb.119.1.266-269.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Streicher S. L., Shanmugam K. T., Ausubel F., Morandi C., Goldberg R. B. Regulation of nitrogen fixation in Klebsiella pneumoniae: evidence for a role of glutamine synthetase as a regulator of nitrogenase synthesis. J Bacteriol. 1974 Nov;120(2):815–821. doi: 10.1128/jb.120.2.815-821.1974. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. TAYLOR A. L. BACTERIOPHAGE-INDUCED MUTATION IN ESCHERICHIA COLI. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1963 Dec;50:1043–1051. doi: 10.1073/pnas.50.6.1043. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Tubb R. S., Postgate J. R. Control of nitrogenase synthesis in Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Gen Microbiol. 1973 Nov;79(1):103–117. doi: 10.1099/00221287-79-1-103. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Yoch D. C., Pengra R. M. Effect of amino acids on the nitrogenase system of Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1966 Sep;92(3):618–622. doi: 10.1128/jb.92.3.618-622.1966. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Zhu J., Brill W. J. Temperature sensitivity of the regulation of nitrogenase synthesis by Klebsiella pneumoniae. J Bacteriol. 1981 Feb;145(2):1116–1118. doi: 10.1128/jb.145.2.1116-1118.1981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Bacteriology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES